>From Rick Rozoff:
Subject: 'Velvet' Coup Watch: From A(zerbaijan) to Z(imbabwe)
1) Azerbaijan Next Target Of 'Rose Revolution'?
2) Kiev: Training Ground For Belarusian Coup
3) Kyrgyzstan: 'Opposition' Foreign-Funded, Wants
Power At Any Cost
4) Ukraine: West Spent $10 Million For Two Weeks Of
'Orange Revolution'
5) US Provided $65 For Ukrainian Opposition
6) US, Britain, Soros Plan Yugoslav Model 'Revolution'
In Zimbabwe
1)
Azerbaijan Next Target Of 'Rose Revolution'?
http://www.messenger.com.ge/issues/0759_december_10_2004/press_scanner_0759_cis.\
htm
The Messenger (Georgia)
December 10, 2004
"Ukrainian scenario will not be used in Azerbaijan"
-In his speech Askerov said that Ukraine's Pora
finances some parties in Azerbaijan so that a
revolution will also take place in Baku but "this
attempt will be suppressed," he concluded.
The Azeri newspaper Ekho Baku reports opposition
forces plan to hold a coup d'etat in the Baku that
replicates the Georgian and Ukranian scenarios.
Vice-speaker of the Azeri assembly Mili Mejlis, Ziafet
Askerov, made the comments during discussions of the
situation in Ukraine.
The initiator of the discussions was an MP from the
'Ana Veten' party Zakhid Oruj, who said it is
necessary for official Baku to express itself
regarding Ukraine.
"Ukraine is a partner of Azerbaijan, and Baku cannot
stay aside when there are talks about the territorial
integrity of a friendly country," he said.
Orujev also stated that he does not share the opinion
of official Baku. According to him, the opposition
thinks that a "Rose Revolution" will also occur in
Azerbaijan.
For his part, chair of the Azeri-Ukranian
inter-parliamentary group Vagif Abdulaev stated that
there is no reason for troubles over this issue.
"Stability reigns in Ukraine," he said.
In his speech Askerov said that Ukraine's Pora
finances some parties in Azerbaijan so that a
revolution will also take place in Baku but "this
attempt will be suppressed," he concluded.
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2)
Kiev: Training Ground For Belarusian Coup
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/10383793.htm
Associated Press
December 10, 2004
Belarus Opposition Streams to Kiev
YURAS KARMANAU
KIEV, Ukraine - "Today Ukraine, tomorrow Belarus!"
read a banner strung up this week in a tent camp for
opposition protesters.
....
[Belarusian 'opposition' forces] can be found here, at
Kiev's Independence Square, the epicenter of the
Ukrainian opposition protests and the new meeting
place for the Belarusian opposition.
Hundreds of activists and leaders of isolated
Belarusian parties and movements have traveled here to
watch Ukraine's popular revolt - and take notes on
democracy in action.
"The Orange Revolution has reawakened hope in
Belarusians and has colossal meaning for us," said
Igor Stakh, a 23-year-old member of a Belarusian youth
movement called Zubr, or Bison, whose tent sits among
those of his young Ukrainian comrades.
It's not just Belarus. Liberal leaders and opposition
activists from Russia have also been spotted at the
tent camps and on the podium beside opposition leader
Viktor Yushchenko as he fought to annul the fraudulent
Nov. 21 presidential runoff. Russian President
Vladimir Putin has insisted outsiders stop meddling in
Ukraine, a former Soviet republic.
Anatoly Lebedko, the leader of Belarus' largest
opposition party, has traveled to Kiev twice over the
last few weeks.
....
Lukashenko pushed through a referendum in October that
will allow him to seek a third term in 2006 and run in
subsequent elections. Western observers said the
results were fraudulent.
While authorities said almost 80 percent of voters
supported Lukashenko's move, the Gallup/Baltic Service
said no more than 48 percent were in favor.
In reality, analysts [....] say, most Belarusians are
hungry for change and could force a repeat of the
Ukrainian scenario in their homeland.
"Lukashenko's rating is falling and there is a
possibility of changing the situation," said Oleg
Manayev, who heads the Minsk-based Independent
Institute for Social-Economic and Political Research.
"The situation in Ukraine could detonate events in
Belarus."
....
Lukashenko has been taking notes.
"The latest events in neighboring countries have shown
the importance of a strong and authoritative power as
a factor for preserving stability," he said Thursday.
"Once the authorities begin to display hesitancy,
passivity and weakness, destructive forces immediately
make use of this."
....
"If there were less Russian and Kremlin influence over
Belarus, the changes would come faster," said Vintsuk
Vyachorka, the leader of the Belarusian Popular Front.
Russia sponsors the Lukashenko regime, providing Minsk
with long-term loans and supplying oil and gas at low
prices. But relations between Putin and Lukashenko
remain cold.
That could change.
"After the loss of influence in Ukraine, Russia might
reconsider its plans in Belarus and strengthen support
for Lukashenko," Lebedko said.
But the young people from the Zubr movement who have
taken part in the Ukrainian protests, belting out
Ukrainian songs for days and nights on end, are
certain they will prevail sooner or later.
"Belarusians and Ukrainians understand one another
without translation - especially when it's the
language of a long-awaited revolution," Stakh said.
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3)
http://en.rian.ru/rian/index.cfm?prd_id=160&msg_id=5198428&startrow=1&date=2004-12-10&do_alert=0
Russian Information Agency
December 10, 2004
OPPOSITION IN KIRGIZIA RECEIVES FOREIGN MONEY AND
STRIVES TO COME TO POWER AT ANY COST
Yulia Orlova
BISHKEK - Opposition forces in Kirgizia are striving
to seize power at any cost, Kirgiz President Askar
Akayev said on Friday.
Speaking at a conference, Democracy in the Changing
World, that is under way in Kirgizia's capital,
Bishkek, Mr Akayev emphasised that the opposition had
received foreign money and resorted to dirty tricks in
its activities.
Democracy is thereby being imposed on the Kirgiz
nation, according to the president. "Such practices
are harmful. They do not meet our national interests
and can lead to unpredictable consequences," said
President Akayev.
Mr Akayev believes the parliamentary elections, due in
Kirgizia on February 27, 2005, will be a test for
democracy in the republic.
"Being a guarantor of the constitution, I will do the
utmost to ensure transparent, democratic and fair
elections," said Mr Akayev.
Mr Akayev emphasised that Kirgizia was prepared to
ensure appropriate conditions for international
monitors and thereby demonstrate its resolve to carry
on democratic reforms.
------------------------------------------------------
4)
Ukraine: West Spent $10 Million For Two Weeks Of
'Orange Revolution'
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=1550760&PageNum=0
Itar-Tass
December 10, 2004
Spendings on Ukrainian election exceed planned targets
-According to one of the people trained in summer
camps of the opposition, the protesters in Kiev are
structurally divided into groups numbering 10,000
people, 1,000 people, 100 and ten people. The leaders
of about all the groups are on the payroll. Experts
believe that two weeks of the orange revolution in
the streets of Kiev cost some ten million dollars.
KIEV - The two presidential candidates  Prime
Minister Viktor Yanukovich and opposition leader
Viktor Yushchenko  most probably have spent on the
electoral campaign more money than they were allowed
to have in their electoral funds. This is the opinion
of Sergei Kivalov, who was chairman of the Central
Electoral Commission (CEC) of Ukraine during the first
two rounds of the presidential elections.
Frankly speaking, I do not believe the candidates
kept within the limits of their electoral funds, he
told Itar-Tass after he was asked to comment on the
statement of U.S. Congressman Ron Paul, who said the
U.S. Administration could spend millions of dollars on
support for Yushchenko.
According to the information of Kivalov, the electoral
fund of each candidate amounts to 50,000 minimal wages
for each round, which makes some two million dollars.
He stressed that CEC did not have at its disposal
effective means of influencing the candidates. A fact
of the use of money for the campaigning from other
sources should be established by court. But even if
the fact has been proved, CEC can only issue a warning
to the presidential candidate.
According to one of the people trained in summer
camps of the opposition, the protesters in Kiev are
structurally divided into groups numbering 10,000
people, 1,000 people, 100 and ten people. The leaders
of about all the groups are on the payroll. Experts
believe that two weeks of the orange revolution in
the streets of Kiev cost some ten million dollars.
As early as in May, this year, Valery Mishura, head of
the provisional investigating commission of the
Ukrainian parliament, made a report on the
establishment of facts of foreign interference in the
financing of electoral campaigns in Ukraine. He said
that time that representatives of the right-wing
opposition were getting the biggest grants from
foreign organisations.
....
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5)
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=544&ncid=544&e=4&u=/ap/20041210/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_ukraine_election_4
Associated Press
December 10, 2004
U.S. Money Helped Opposition in Ukraine
By MATT KELLEY
[Excerpts]
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration has spent more
than $65 million in the past two years to aid
political organizations in Ukraine, paying to bring
opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko to meet U.S.
leaders and helping to underwrite exit polls
indicating he won last month's disputed runoff
election.
....
No U.S. money was sent directly to Ukrainian political
parties, the officials say. In most cases, it was
funneled through organizations like the Carnegie
Foundation or through groups aligned with Republicans
and Democrats that organized election training, with
human rights forums or with independent news outlets.
But officials acknowledge some of the money helped
train groups and individuals opposed to the
Russian-backed government candidate  people who now
call themselves part of the Orange revolution.
For example, one group that got grants through
U.S.-funded foundations is the Center for Political
and Legal Reforms, whose Web site has a link to
Yushchenko's home page under the heading "partners."
Another project funded by the U.S. Agency for
International Development brought a Center for
Political and Legal Reforms official to Washington
last year for a three-week training session on
political advocacy.
....
Documents and interviews provide a glimpse into how
U.S. money was spent inside Ukraine.
....
The Ukrainian groups that did the poll of more than
28,000 voters have not said how much the project cost.
Neither has the U.S.
The four foundations involved included three funded by
the U.S. government: The National Endowment for
Democracy, which gets its money directly from
Congress; the Eurasia Foundation, which gets money
from the State Department, and the Renaissance
Foundation, part of a network of charities funded by
billionaire George Soros that gets money from the
State Department. Other countries involved included
Great Britain, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Canada,
Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
Grants from groups funded by the U.S. Agency for
International Development also went to the
International Center for Policy Studies, a think tank
that includes Yushchenko on its supervisory board....
IRI, Craner's Republican-backed group, used U.S. money
to help Yushchenko arrange meetings with Vice
President Dick Cheney, Assistant Secretary of State
Richard Armitage and GOP leaders in Congress in
February 2003.
The State Department gave the National Democratic
Institute, a group of Democratic foreign policy
experts, nearly $48 million for worldwide
democracy-building programs in 2003. Former Secretary
of State Madeleine Albright chairs NDI's board of
directors.
The NDI says representatives of parties in all the
blocs that participated in Ukraine's 2002
parliamentary elections have attended its seminars to
learn skills such as writing party platforms,
organizing bases of voter support and developing party
structures. NDI also has been a main financial and
administrative backer of the Committee of Voters of
Ukraine, an election watchdog group that said the
presidential vote was not conducted fairly.
NDI also organized a 35-member team of election
observers headed by former federal appeals court Judge
Abner Mikva for the Nov. 21 runoff vote. IRI sent its
own team of observers.
The U.S. Agency for International Development also
funds the Center for Ukrainian Reform Education, which
produces radio and television programs aiming to
educate Ukrainian citizens about reforming their
nation's government and economy. The center also
sponsors press clubs and education for journalists.
------------------------------------------------------
6)
http://www.artel.co.yu/sr/analize/2004-12-10.html
Geopolitica by Artel
Serbia and Montenegro
December 10, 2004
[Translated by our friend MJ]
US, Britain, Soros Plan Yugoslav Model 'Rose
Revolution' In Zimbabwe
According to information which Artel has obtained,
workers of the Center for Nonviolent Resistance
which is registered here as an agency which deals with
political consulting for Non-Governmental, youth and
student organizations which carry out civilian
campaigns, and has as a goal the democratization of
society, and trains members of the Movement for
Democratic Change from Zimbabwe, whose goal is the
toppling of President Robert Mugabe.
The main sponsor of this action is Great Britain.
Instruction of members of the Movement for Democratic
Change in Zimbabwe should last 5 days and workers of
Movement for Democratic Change, in addition to paid
travel and housing, will receive a ten thousand dollar
honorarium. In addition to workers of the Center for
Non-Violent Resistance people from the Czech Republic
and Poland will also be trained.
The agency Center for Non-Violent Resistance,
contains former members of the organization Otpor.
Among significant financiers of this organization is
Freedom House which is the stalking horse for Soros.
Center for Non-Violent Resistance is a member of the
International Center for Non-Violent Battle which
has developed the method of non-violent battle,
i.e., the method of non-violent regime change which is
a function of the West, and is never a function of the
citizens in whose name such non-violent regime state
is supposedly instituted.
As opposed to armed resistance, this is a relatively
cheap method of effecting political and economic
systems of a state in their own interest.
Thus, the toppling of Milosevic cost only 41 million
dollars while Saddam Hussein, where bare power was
used to effect these changes has cost near 100 billion
dollars.
Because of this the method of non-violent battle,
which should be seen as a global phenomenon, and which
should be seen as only one means in low intensity
conflicts, is gaining ever greater force and presents
a serious threat to the sovereignty and national
security of many nations.
If this means is to be resisted those nations must
also act globally, on various terrains, using foremost
methods of social engineering, media, non-governmental
organizations which function in lands in which operate
centers of non-violent resistance and similar NGOs.
The very act of toppling President Mugabe from the
shadows, London must carry this out through
opposition parties. The Movement for Democratic
Change which supports the concept of neo-liberal
economics behind which stands the IMF and World Bank.
That is the concept urged on the citizens of Serbia as
well which is carried out by the party pseudonymously
as G17+.
Financial, as well as political support for Movement
for Democratic Change comes from London as well as
from some super-national centers, of particular note
Soros's organizations which desires to grab for itself
some of the richer natural resources of Zimbabwe.
With the toppling of Mugabe, the English want to
return their influence in Zimbabwe which they lost in
1980. After Zimbabwe's liberation in 1980 Great
Britain lost all control over and means of
exploitation of Zimbabwe's natural riches.